Metabolic epidemiologic studies cancer

L. Domellof, L. Darby, D. Hanson, L. Mathews, B. Simi and B. S. Reddy, Fecal sterols and bacterial beta-glucuronidase activity a preliminary metabolic epidemiology study of healthy volunteers from Umea, Sweden, and metropolitan New York, Nutr. Cancer, 1982, 4(2), 120. 

Molecular epidemiological studies to assess the risk associated with metabolic polymoiphisms for cancers of head-and-neck and the lung have shown that the overall... 

In the Unites States, the daily intake of 3-carotene is around 2 mg/day Several epidemiological studies have reported that consumption of carotenoid-rich foods is associated with reduced risks of certain chronic diseases such as cancers, cardiovascular disease, and age-related macular degeneration. These preventive effects of carotenoids may be related to their major function as vitamin A precursors and/or their actions as antioxidants, modulators of the immune response, and inducers of gap-junction communications. Not all carotenoids exert similar protective effects against specific diseases. By reason of the potential use of carotenoids as natural food colorants and/or for their health-promoting effects, research has focused on better understanding how they are absorbed by and metabolized in the human body. 

Breast cancer has a multifactorial etiology involving numerous genetic, metabolic, and cultural variables. Table I presents a summary of many epidemiological studies designed to identify risk factors for breast cancer (2-8). 

Epidemiological studies have indicated that dietary fiber is a contributing factor in lowering the incidence of cancer of the colon. Colon cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States. The increase in the bulk of material in the colon provided by insoluble fibers has been speculated to reduce the concentration of chemicals in the colon that promote the conversion of a normal colonocyte to a cancerous one. An increase in flow rate through the colon, generated by dietary fibers, would reduce the time of exposure of the colonocytes to these chemicals. These effects should reduce the levels of cancer-producing chemicals supplied directly by the diet, as well as those produced by microbial metabolism. Further details are revealed in the Diet and Cancer chapter. 

Death. Cases of death in humans acutely exposed to airborne formaldehyde were not located. Death after the ingestion of fonnaldehyde (or a formalin solution) in humans has been reported in connection with attempted suicides. Metabolic acidosis has been noted prior to death, along with respiratory, cardiac, and renal failure autopsy revealed corrosive damage to gastrointestinal mucosa (Burkhart et al. 1990 Eells et al. 1981 Koppel et al. 1990). Increased rates of cancer-related mortality associated with occupational exposure to formaldehyde (predominately by inhalation) have been found in some epidemiological studies, but not in others (see Section 2.2.1.8 and Section 2.5). Animal studies indicate that subchronic inhalation exposure to concentrations below 20 ppm are not lethal (Feron et al. 1988 Maronpot et al. 1986 Martin 1990 Rusch et al. 1983 Saillenfait et al. 1989 Woutersen et al. 1987), but lifetime inhalation exposure to formaldehyde has been associated with early mortalities associated with... 

Recent studies by Ross et.al. have demonstrated that resorcinolic lipids (5-alkylresorcinols) present in high fibre whole grain cereal diet can be used as biomarkers, i.e. compounds that can be used for the epidemiological studies of the effects of dietary intake in human health [412-415]. These phenolic compounds are absorbed from the ileum by animals and humans and may be determined quantitatively in the serum [416] and their metabolites also in human urine [412], Further data confirm that cereal grain 5-alkylreesorcinols modify animal lipid metabolism in vivo and in vitro [413,417] which make them very interesting in relation to the risks of diabetes, obesity, heart diseases and some cancers. 

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